NEWS

SC seeks Ridge Board's views on MCD's new dumping site at Bhatti mines

Source: The Times of India, New Delhi, Date: March , 2010

Member of the Ridge Management Board (RMB) on Monday told the Supreme
Court that it has given no green clearance to Municipal Corporation of
Delhi's plan to create a new garbage disposal dump at the abandoned
Bhatti mines area in the Ridge area. Citing a 10-year-old study by the
ministry of environment and forest and the Delhi government on urban
environment and infrastructure improvement, Delhi government counsel S
Wasim Ahmed Qadri sought urgent go ahead for the project from a Bench
comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices Deepak Verma and
B S Chauhan. The civic body said it had along with the environment
department of Delhi government carried out an extensive survey of the
Bhatti mines area to identify the pits available for disposal of
municipal solid waste by landfilling. Accordingly, a proposal was
submitted before RMB for allotment of this land for Engineered Sanitary
Landfill site, it said. On RMB's recommendation, an environment impact
assessment (EIA) study was carried out by MCD to find out the
suitability of Bhatti mines as an SLF site that fell close to the Asola
Sanctuary. The EIA study clearly indicates that Asola Sanctuary fell
outside the demarcated SLF site at Bhatti mines and the RMB has in
principle cleared the proposal, MCD said.